At the official draw Mr Vladimir Barta, IJF Head Sport Director, gave the first welcome, “Dear distinguished members of the UAE Judo Federation, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of IJF President Mr Marius Vizer, I want to say how delighted we are to be here again for the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam. It demonstrates the strong commitment of UAE on the World Judo Tour. We will also have world kata and world veterans championships here and we wish all participants of each of these events the best of luck and to all travelling to Abu, we wish them a very pleasant time.”
Mr Naser Al Tamimi, General Secretary of the UAE Judo Federation, then spoke on behalf of the host country, “First, it is my pleasure to welcome our federation board members, athletes from around the world and all the technical teams to Abu Dhabi, the capital of UAE. Thanks to the IJF for all the support from our 1st edition back in 2009. Thanks to all sponsors and media partners and also the UAE Sports Council for supporting the event. I wish everyone a good competiton and good luck.”
Mr Al Tamimi attended the draw with colleagues from the board of the UAE Judo Federation, Mr Ahmed Alboushi and Mr Mohamed Jassem.
Mr Armen Bagdasarov, IJF Head Referee Director, said, “Dear UAE board members and judo family, the IJF Referee Commission has nominated from among the best referees in the world and alongside our team of supervisors, we can ensure that this event is officiated at the highest level, to stay in line with the best events in the world.”
Mr Florin Daniel Lascau, IJF Head Referee Director, then went ahead with the official draw protocol, “I am very happy to be here in Abu Dhabi at such a well attended event. We have 454 athletes from 77 countries. Now we can start the draw.”
Following the category by category draw, Mr Lascau wished all participants the best of luck.
MC for the draw, Mr Sheldon Franco-Rooks then offered some housekeeping reminders, “Please wear accreditation always and support one another for a safe and sustainable event, following all rules as published in the SOR. The competition start time is 10am each day at the Jiu-Jitsu Arena in the Zayed Sport City, with the final block at 5pm local time, for medal contests only. The whole event can be followed live on social medal with hashtag #JudoAbuDhabi and remember to catch up with all the action of the day and also our daily round up show ‘Golden Score’ on JudoTV.”